As the Earth Shakes

FEBRUARY 24/11 . DAY #133 . REST DAY #38 .

As I sit here and watch the news on Christchurch I am overcome with this feeling of wanting to help. I want to be there, working, helping, doing what I can do to pitch in. They have opened up the option of being able to volunteer and I want to be there.

The thing is, I can. I could. Today we (Alex and I) plan on leaving Greymouth to head to Arthur’s Pass. But we don’t have to. We could just as easily head on further east to Christchurch. We don’t have to go to Arthur’s Pass. No one but us says we have to.


A boulder rolled through this house

 But what is it that we should do? Should we be finishing Te Araroa Trail as we planned or should we go and do what we can in a city that has fallen to pieces? It severely lays heavy on my mind and I just don’t know which route to go. On the one hand, the entire purpose of our trek is to finish it. It’s to help promote Indigo Foundation’s project in Solomon Islands. It’s to have an adventure. But here we are with an opportunity to do something hands on – to help people. That’s what life is all about. It’s all about life. Not about material possessions. Not about money. Not about work. Life is about life. And this is an opportunity for us to help.


So which way do we go? Which path do we take? And does it matter if Alex and I want the same thing?

***

Well – after a bit of thought and discussion, Alex and I have decided to go to Christchurch. How could we not? I realize that they might turn us away once we get there or we may get there and stay so long we risk not being able to finish in Bluff. But it’s worth the risk and it’s a hell of a lot better than not doing anything.

And that’s the thing – if I had money to give, I would. If I had a home to open up to a stranger, I would. If I had food to make or extra clothes to spare – it would all be for the people of Christchurch. But I don’t have any of that. All I have is my time and myself. That’s all I have and so that’s what I give. I just want to help. Just a little bit. I don’t care how big of a difference I make – I just want to help make one. Every little bit counts. I want to do my bit.

So at this point Alex and I have said “goodbye” to Greymouth and have found our way back to Arthur’s Pass area again. It feels like so much has happened since we were last here and yet it feels like we were here just yesterday. I do not know what tomorrow brings. I do not know where we will go or what we will do for food and shelter. All we have is our tent and tramping food. We have enough water for a day or so. That is all.

And we have hope. Hope in the future. Hope for things to come. Hope for all things good. Hope for all things of love. All we need is love.


FEBRUARY 25/11 . DAY #134 . REST DAY #39 .

It’s difficult to know what will happen in the next few days here. Today we managed to hitch a ride in to Christchurch by a local resident. By the time we arrived in the garden city, he had offered to let us pitch our tent on his front lawn. His house is in the outer suburb of Spreydon where the effects of the 6.3 quake can be seen. Liquefaction can be viewed along all the streets and potholes are scattered about, yet we are still about a good 30 minute walk to the CBD.

I don’t know how people can do this – those that live here. How do they continue day in and day out with the emotional stress and strain of the earthquake? I feel the stress of it and I have only just been here a few hours. The aftershocks alone leave everyone on edge. Everywhere you look there is something not quite right with the city and the emotional strain of trying to find somewhere to fit in and try and help out is beyond training. I only hope that tomorrow we are able to find something. Anything.


FEBRUARY 26/11 . DAY #135 . REST DAY #40 .

The Student Army marches on into a neighborhood

It’s amazing to me in how Alex and I can set out this morning in hopes to be able to help the people of Christchurch and yet return back to our tent later in the day feeling as though we were helped more than anyone else. What is it with Kiwis that just keep on giving even when there’s nothing left to give? I can look back on our time since arriving here in Christchurch and all I see is people who are so generously helping Alex and me out while being here that it feels as though we have done nothing on our end to give back.

Today Alex and I managed to find our way to the University and joined the masses of people in line to sign in for the Student Army. From there we happened on a city bus and were taken to an area of the city to work. And work we did. Armed with shovels and wheelbarrows we marched down the streets like the army we were and started door-knocking to find someone needing help. It was amazing to see the extent of liquefaction on the streets – the pavement all cracked and covered with water.

Lunch time came and we were overwhelmed by the food that was provided. Here we are trying to give back to a community that’s lost nearly everything and they end up giving us more in return. A hot lunch in the park was followed by tea from an elderly man while we helped clean up his front yard. Then, on our way back to the university at the end of the day we were met with more food that the locals had prepared for us volunteers. I was completely overwhelmed. I feel like I haven’t done nearly enough to deserve such kindness.


FEBRUARY 27/11 . DAY #136 . REST DAY #41 .

People are without water. Without electricity. Without homes and yet they still hope. The people of Christchurch have this amazing ability to look disaster in its face and still be able to continue on living as though they have only merely a scratch to worry about. Such as was my experience today when I spoke with a local who happened to be clearing some liquefaction and when I asked if he needed any help, he stated that he was alright as he was just “playing around.” Like a kid in a sandbox he was.


FEBRUARY 28/11 . DAY #137 . REST DAY #42 .

Today Alex and I headed off in the early hours of the morning to walk to the university. Today we worked on the street team again and ended up going to the area of North Brighton and surrounding suburbs. Completely and utterly devastating.

Road damage

 Broken water pipes. Leaning power lines. Crumbling houses. Piles of silt. Flooded roads. No power. No running water. Raw sewage. It was all there and completely overwhelming if I sat to think about it. All I could do was continue to hand out pieces of paper that contained info regarding services available. Numbers to call. On the phones they can’t use. Brilliant. With any luck our feedback on the difficult situation at hand would be dealt with ASAP.


MARCH 1/11 . DAY #138 . REST DAY #43 .

It’s hard to believe that today is the first day of March. Even harder to believe that not only are we not done our trek, but that we’re in the midst of volunteering to help Christchurch clean-up after its tragic earthquake.

Right now it’s the early hours of the morning and Alex and I woke up to use the kitchen (breakfast) and toilet before Richard (the university student whose house’s lawn we’re pitching our tent on) leaves to go to the university to set up for the student army. And now we wait (Alex attempts to go back to sleep) until we trundle on over ourselves.

This entire experience in Christchurch has been incredible and essentially life-changing. It will be difficult to figure out the best time to move on from here as no matter when we leave, we will always be leaving before everything is finished. So we take it one day at a time.

And one day at a time is about all I can function at this point in time. The amount of sheer devastation I’ve seen each day in this city overwhelms me. The fallen buildings. Homes doomed to dangerous to live in. The silt. The flooding. The stench of raw sewage as it pumps into the rivers, streams and streets. The army personnel ensuring everyone stays safe. And the faces – young and old of people who are desperately clinging to the last shred of hope they have in their lives returning to normal. But what IS “normal” when everything around has fallen to pieces – literally?

Not all is horrible though. Just as this earthquake has brought out the bad in people. The looters. The sadness. The desperation. It has also brought about a lot of good. It’s brought people together, not just from the locals of Christchurch, but from New Zealand as a whole – as well as the rest of the world. There are people giving free food and water. Gas stations giving out gas. Massage therapists working out the knots of stress from the shoulders. Strangers hugging strangers. People offering their spare rooms for those in need.


Earthquake damage

 And the volunteers. They don’t call it a “student army” for nothing. Hundreds of students, visitors, locals and heaven knows who else, gather every single day at the university to help. Arriving on foot, in car or on bicycle with a shovel in hand, we line up to sign in. And then we’re shipped off by bus to the designated area that needs support.

Yesterday Alex and I helped in the street team and we ended up riding a Kiwi experience bus. I suppose that’s why they say “never say never” as I honestly had NEVER thought I would ride one of those buses, much less ride it with a load of other people wearing high-vis vests so we can go help those in need.

It’s amazing to see everyone came together for the common cause of helping Christchurch get back on their feet. It seems as though the job will be never-ending, but bit by bit we’ll get there. One day at a time.


MARCH 2/11 . DAY #139 . REST DAY #44 .

I’ve never seen so many pizzas in my life. They came in carrying a massive tower of boxed cheesy pies into the volunteer tent today. One by one, stacking the pizzas on a table as the rest of us sat there in disbelief. People hesitantly stepped forward, obviously eager to just have a piece – it wasn’t until we were told to “go for it” that anyone really began to comprehend how many pieces there actually were. Truth be told, there was an entire truck load.

The truckload of pizzas for the Student Army

 Each of us started with taking one pizza each, giggling amongst ourselves at how crazy it was that we could even do that. And then the pizzas kept coming – so we snagged another. Some people grabbed four or five. They just kept coming and coming. It was ridiculous. All we could do was sit back with a box on our lap and a slice in our hand as we continued to gawk at the rate the pizza boxes were continuing to pile up.

Needless to say – I’ve rediscovered my love for Hawaiian pizza. Nothing like a thick, cheesy slice of ham and pineapple. Made my day. Not that I even needed that. Aside from strong winds blowing dried silt in my eyes all day, things went pretty smoothly. Today we did the suburbs around Sumner and it was amazing to think that today was my fourth day working on the Street Team and I am still so amazed at the destruction left behind from the earthquake. Today was Day #8 since the quake came and there is still street flooded so badly from water/sewage pipes that no one can even walk past. Crazy to think that 30 seconds of the ground shaking could do that. But it can. It has.


MARCH 3/11 . DAY #140 . REST DAY #45 .

Imagine, just for a moment, what it would be like if your world around you just stopped. If you got to wash your hands or grab a glass of water and nothing comes out of the tap. Imagine not being able to turn on the TV, cook on the stove or even charge your laptop. There’s no electricity. Imagine pacing through your house – a complete nervous wreck as you can’t get through to your loved ones. The telephone lines are jammed and you’re running low on battery. It’s uncertain if you’ll even make it out alive as your house strains with the stress of being on an angle. Everything’s a mess. All the kitchen cupboards have dumped their contents on the floor. Broken plates. Smashed glass. The washing machine is found in the next room, no longer secured in its regular place. Chairs on their sides. Bbookshelves dumped over. And there appears to be a sewage line broken as brown murky water begins flowing across your floor.

To look outside, the back yard is a mess. The decking is on a slant so severe it looks as though it once was a part of a badly designed fun house. And then there’s the lawn. Where there was once a neatly trimmed section of grass, there is now strips of lawn separated by large gapping crevices due to the earth splitting in a million pieces. The garden is no more. Silt from liquefaction covers all plant life. Two feet deep.

The neighbor’s homes don’t fair any better. One has a hole in the roof where the chimney once was. One has completely collapsed on itself as though a giant leaned too hard against it. The front street is unrecognizable. You spot a few massive potholes before the water; sewage and liquefaction seep in to fill them up. There is no longer pavement – instead your street more or less resembles that of a very sickening beach-front property.

All there is is the vain hope that all your loved ones are safe and well. You can’t contact them now; your cell phone is dead. No electricity. No ability to leave for anywhere. No grocery store to buy food. No more work to go to. No showers. No toilet. No anything. Gone.

And yet – even with nothing there is still hope. There is always hope.



MARCH 5/11 . DAY #142 . REST DAY #47 .

Today might be our last day in Christchurch as tomorrow we plan to be heading out to spend the day at Castle Hill before making our way onwards back to Arthur’s Pass. As weird as it feels to think of the idea of saying goodbye to everyone here – I am completely excited about starting to walk again. Not so much because I WANT to put 20kg on my back and walk for 8-9hrs, but more because from Arthur’s Pass onwards it’s going to feel so much more as though we’ve reached our final stretch to Bluff. And I’m even more excited about the prospect of pushing my body to get there quicker. I only hope Alex’s foot holds up.


The Student Army resting after a hard days work

 Right now it’s windy, rainy and bloody cold outside and looking at weather like that from the warm comforts of the couch inside doesn’t exactly make me thrilled of the prospect of heading out to the bush again. We’re coming down the home stretch of the summer season here and it will be a race against time to try and finish in Bluff before the major weather changes. And that’s still the primary goal – finish in Bluff. We’re going to do our best to do it.



MARCH 6/11 . DAY #143 . REST DAY #48 .

Well – we’re back in Arthur’s Pass now. For the third time. It’s a little strange as it feels as though we were just here and yet at the same time it feels as though a lifetime has passed. It’s difficult to really process everything that has happened in the last couple of weeks. As I look at the towering mountains outside this café window, everything that has been seems like a surreal dream. Where do I even begin to process the pile of information my mind has stockpiled?

Life here in Arthur’s Pass appears all as normal. Water runs free. The toilets are working and the tour buses file through one-by-one, stocked with nametag-wearing tourists all with cameras positioned ready to take the same photos as everyone else.

And I feel numb. My mind wanders to everything I’ve seen. Massive potholes. Crumbling buildings. Raw sewage. Silt. Crooked power lines. Dirt. Broken pavement. Missing chimneys. Desperate faces.

Yet tomorrow we walk on.


TOTAL = 2206 KM